Dunno what to make of this,part of me say's it's a good idea as the injured lads will be able to remain (hopefully still under their badge) in the forces with a job & support.
The other half thinks the MoD are creating a 'leper Regiment' & the lads ther will be seen as not wanted.
Opinions Chaps?

SOLDIERS who suffer âlife-changingâ injuries in battle will be moved from their regiments to a special unit under cost-cutting proposals.

Last night serving personnel accused the Government of betrayal, claiming the plans would make it easier for cash-stxrapped Whitehall bean-counters to throw veterans âon the scrap heapâ.

Others said it was âpotentially disastrousâ for morale.

Until now, amputee soldiers who had recovered from their wounds could stay with trusted comrades and were found assignments in the regiment. Rejoining their âfamilyâ is considered vital to emotional recovery.

The proposals, to be announced in the New Year, will see soldiers leave their regimental homes for ever and placed with strangers.

The new unit is intended to be a permanent home for personnel undergoing long-term rehabilitation for what the Ministry of Defence calls âlife-changing injuriesâ. It is expected to be ready by April.

Soldiers currently complete treatment at Headley Court rehabilitation centre in Surrey and other hospitals.

The MoD has its sights on about 6,000 service personnel who are not combat fit but on the payroll as it faces a Â£36billion black hole in its budget.

Last night a senior officer, who could not be named, criticised the move. âThis would be a massive blow to morale,â said the officer who assessÂ­Â­es the career potential of amputees.

âAll the serving men and women I deal with want to get back to their own units as quickly as possible. This is very important to them.

âThis new unit will be nothing more than an amputee battalion â soldiers will feel singled out and will be much easier targets for forcible retirement by the MoD.

SOLDIERS who suffer âlife-changingâ injuries in battle will be moved from their regiments to a special unit under cost-cutting proposals.

Last night serving personnel accused the Government of betrayal, claiming the plans would make it easier for cash-stxrapped Whitehall bean-counters to throw veterans âon the scrap heapâ.

Others said it was âpotentially disastrousâ for morale.

Until now, amputee soldiers who had recovered from their wounds could stay with trusted comrades and were found assignments in the regiment. Rejoining their âfamilyâ is considered vital to emotional recovery.

The proposals, to be announced in the New Year, will see soldiers leave their regimental homes for ever and placed with strangers.

The new unit is intended to be a permanent home for personnel undergoing long-term rehabilitation for what the Ministry of Defence calls âlife-changing injuriesâ. It is expected to be ready by April.

Soldiers currently complete treatment at Headley Court rehabilitation centre in Surrey and other hospitals.

The MoD has its sights on about 6,000 service personnel who are not combat fit but on the payroll as it faces a Â£36billion black hole in its budget.

Last night a senior officer, who could not be named, criticised the move. âThis would be a massive blow to morale,â said the officer who assessÂ­Â­es the career potential of amputees.

âAll the serving men and women I deal with want to get back to their own units as quickly as possible. This is very important to them.

âThis new unit will be nothing more than an amputee battalion â soldiers will feel singled out and will be much easier targets for forcible retirement by the MoD.

SEARCH UK NEWS for:

âIt will send the wrong message to those still fighting in Afghanistan.â The MoD said yesterday: âWe are committed to providing excellent care for our injured personnel, and ensuring that individuals get the support that is most suitable for them.â

A soldier from 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancasterâs Regiment died yesterday in Afghanistanâs Helmand province when he stepped on a roadside bomb.

Whilst it's probably stemmed from a nice thought for injured servicemen, I can see it feeling like a GBFO biff wagon to some people.

I worry people put in such a unit would feel like they were being institutionalised - or backloaded into the Army's big 'spare part'.

Im not saying it would be like that in reality, but I feel like being in 1st Battalion Royal Amputees could be seen by some as just being reminded of their wounds, as if they didn't get reminded every day when they got up.

If the story is even half true, it shows just how desperate the Treasury and the MOD have become to save money.

We used to have a manning margin where soldiers who were not fit could be "carried" without any impact on unit strengths. That was removed some years ago in the interests of efficiency. We also used to have training battalions in the Field Army where injured soldiers could be held - but the formation of ATRA put paid to all that.

In my opinion, injured soldiers should be employed, wherever possible, in their original battalions/units. That might not always be possible but should be the aspiration.

The appearance of long-term injured personnel in the Services appears to have come as a complete surprise to the CoC, the MOD and the Government.

I personally agree with keeping in the maximum injured personnel possible within the forces as there are many Job Specs that do not require the individual to be FE but personnel are still capable of carrying out there role (even when deployed), some in Inf Bns but more so in the Corps.

However, at the current rate of attrition it would not take long for these posts to be filled and then you have a problem.

Moving injured personnel from their Bn's is inevitable as manning control does not allow for surplus personnel, and for the more seriously injured I would venture there are few jobs available.

But this proposal would enable individuals to have their rehab controlled and overviewed by the military which can only be a good thing

This is a Bulls!t idea. The Regimental / Corp system means that the tribe a soldier joins is the one that they will want to remain with and be rehabilitated with in terms of their psychological needs.

The Royal Marines are fortunate in that the Commando Brigade has generated a single ethos, much harder to do with the Army or RAF.

Whilst I appreciate that that it is very, very hard for the boys that get injured and if they are put on the sh!tty jobs detail (and permament Rear Party) because they can't deploy that will may take a toll on their morale - unless it managed correctly.

Let's face it - if we give permanent jobs to the boys that are hurt in the stores or as Coy / Sqn Clerks etc, pretty soon there will not be enough jobs nor career prospects for them. This sort of thing needs to be a "halfway house".

The answer lies in a phased release into the Civvy world (perhaps Civil Service roles??) where retraining, balanced with rehabilitation is required. Forming up the Amputees Bn is not the answer as a halfway house although I can see the attarction of mutual and shared hardship and shared experience in overcoming their situation.

The grim reality is that we simply can't keep these people on the books but we do have a duty to get them ready and set up for their next chapter - and then to continue to support them thereafter. That is pretty tough to say to a guy that has lost both his legs and an arm in an IED in Helmand - but we owe these people the truth and our unswerving support from the moment of strike to the moment they say that they do not want and can demonstrate to themselves and us that support is no longer required. That is something both individual and the organisation must agree on.

It would be much better to move them to an 'administrative' unit, but let them keep as many as possible within their units.

There are lots of positions they could fill, if good enough, such as DDI and DDEs, Recruiters, etc.

Retrades to the AGC or similarly desk bound jobs could be used also.

Eventually ALL of us will leave the Armed Forces, we need a sufficient and competent organisation to deal with any problems when this happens. Whether that be with two legs, none or a crippling mental problem.

Cameron Spence in his book Sabre Squadron talks about the SAS having a number of troopers minus legs and arms etc. Even if they are wounded on operations because they have SF training they can still pass that knowledge onto other troopers so they remain badged and carry on as one of 'them'.

I think it will be beneficial to the armed forces keeping wounded soldiers in to help pass on the knowledge they have but not by putting them in a separate battalion, simply down grade them don't remove them.